This invention relates to a method and apparatus for improving local context search results. In particular, this invention relates to a method and apparatus for improving search results from remote and locally connected searchable devices.
A common Internet search request is a query for a technical specification of a product. This type of search request sometimes does not yield the desired results, perhaps returning links from automated price comparison website or poorly written technical reviews. There are a number of problems with this type of search request. First there is time, effort and bandwidth costs as the user does not immediately receive the answer they need and must spend additional effort to get the desired response. Secondly, the information returned from such results is likely to be unreliable or simply does not answer the question the user posed.
In a known client device, a natural language search statement is translated into a machine search instruction by the client device destined for one of a number of search engines. For example, the machine search instruction can comprise a command for a connected search engine to report back with the weather for that week or a query for a different search engine to return a firmware version. Such a translation works when the client device has been pre-configured for a precise search instruction type for a precise search engine but does not work if the statement is not of a configured type.